The Dark & the Middle

Chapter 21

When Hermione returned to Grimmauld Place at Malfoy's alert, she expected to simply receive a parchment and a short goodbye, not to be handed a thick tome and envelope. She looked at the book then up at Malfoy skeptically, not sure if he was still upset from their last meeting or if this was somehow relevant.

"I found out what wards are placed around Newcastle," he explained. He gestured to the book and said, "They're all bookmarked and the letter is my own notes on what I tried in my lab."

"You've been testing the wards?" she asked. Malfoy nodded. "How?"

"I ran a test on the Newcastle property to determine which wards were in place to prevent apparation and if there were any that gave alerts about intruders," he told her. She flipped open the book to the first bookmark and skimmed over the words as he said, "I made a miniature version in my lab at home and used rats to run the tests. I wasn't able to complete the work, though."

"This one is based in potions," Hermione read, looking down at the ward listed in the book.

"I think if you can figure out a potion that counteracts it, you should be able to get past all the wards without problem," Draco told her. She closed the book again, tucking the envelope between the pages, and looked up to see Draco handing her a scroll of parchment. "That's all the information on the bases in France and the battle plan for Switzerland. I won't be around for at least a week or two, but if I hear anything, I'll write it in the notebook."

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked. She'd gotten rather used to seeing him almost every other day and even if the last time they'd left on not so great terms, she didn't want him to disappear.

"Switzerland," he answered. Hermione frowned. "My aunt has raised worry about me not being given enough chances to rise in rank, so I'll be joining her."

"On the battlefield or elsewhere?" Hermione asked. Draco pursed his lips and she had her answer. "What will you be doing?"

"Executions, most likely," he murmured, not meeting her eye. "It's easy work and when I do it, I can guarantee they don't suffer."

"I'm not sure the Order will see it like that."

"The Order won't care when they discover they've regained control of France," Draco replied, waving off her concern. Changing the subject, he said, "I'd like to take you to Newcastle so you can see the property before you do your own research. Having an idea of the property layout should help."

Hermione nodded, but she didn't expect him to hold out his hand.

"Now?" she asked. Draco nodded, so she took his hand and braced herself for the apparation.

They landed smoothly and just within sight of a large estate. It couldn't have been more than three levels tall, but it stretched out long and was fairly wide. Hermione didn't dare move forward in case she triggered a ward, so she committed the image to memory where she stood.

"The dungeons are there," Draco told her, pointing to the west of the house. "They extend from the entryway to the tower. The revels have been held directly above them to prevent another incident."

"Have you been inside?" she asked, glancing up at him. Draco nodded.

"It's secure, but if I can get you inside, I'm certain you can navigate the dungeons easily," he replied. She nodded in agreement. She'd once read somewhere that all pureblood estates had similar dungeon layouts and while it seemed wise to them, she considered it a fairly obvious design flaw.

"Do you have a floorplan?" she asked. With a smirk, Draco cast a model of the floorplan in front of her and she compared the estate she was seeing with the much smaller model. "Should be easy enough. When you come back from Switzerland, I should have a potion for getting through the wards."